No, it's not reasonable, but certainly possible. Even though the battery in the 3.6R is larger than the one the 2.5 gets it is still marginal. Your battery may not have been fully charged. Short drive, fan, seat heaters, lights all on may have left the battery somewhat discharged. Just buy a bigger battery. Not a bad idea to carry a jump pack too. I have over 17k on mine with no problems yet but ............

 

I made sure everything was off and I just drove the car for 3 hours prior to parking it. I just prurchased a jump pack, thanks for the suggestion!

I would think something like a door or the hatch was slightly open and a dome light kicked on when you were not looking.

@DavidPeab put a priority start thing on one of his cars that he was letting one of his daughters drive. I don't know if there is a good one made anymore as I have not looked into buying one

talking about it here.

I'm pretty sure nothing was on as I'm very careful about it and I've left it alone 2 weeks at a time many occasions before but this was the first time for 3 weeks.

Will a bigger battery help? I do travel a lot and car tends to sit. I can't do a battery tender because there is no socket in the garage.

 

IMO ... on a modern vehicle with so much parasitic draw, not reasonable to assume it will always start after 3 weeks. It may but I wouldn't count on it. The price of technology.

 

Also, is there way to properly turn off the car? I put in it park and then I hit the on/off button, do I have to put my foot on the brake as well? Thanks!

Chapter 7 in the Owners Manual deals with starting and stopping the engine. If you're not sure of the steps, you may want to review that chapter.

 

I would think something like a door or the hatch was slightly open and a dome light kicked on when you were not looking.
@DavidPeab put a priority start thing on one of his cars that he was letting one of his daughters drive. I don't know if there is a good one made anymore as I have not looked into buying one

talking about it here.

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...ms/66-problems-maintenance/321681-battery-not-holding-charge-4.html#post3694337


________

but as you are parking inside, you might consider a trickle charger with loops hooked to the battery and a lead sticking out from the car (usually held in place with a piece of velcro where no one can see it)... you pull into the garage and plug the car in. These are typically used on cars that are seldom used,...like rear drive summer only things.

 

In warmer months.....yes.

 

What he said. You get into colder months - say, January in Indiana - it's entirely possible that three DAYS is too long.

Seriously, there are a huge number of variables involved. Age of the battery, many short trips versus lots of long ones, what's still going for parasitic power (clock, security system, stuff like that), and outside temperature. Just because a car is in a garage doesn't mean that it didn't get below freezing in that garage.

 

How old is this battery?

 

Also, modern starting batteries (what we have) do not react well to deep discharge. The heavy charge current to get them back to full can damage the cells. Failure mode is typically a shorted cell soon experienced by a failure to start some day for no reason. An AGM or a dual purpose battery (starting/deep cycle) are designed to be deep discharged without damage. So, I would replace your battery soon.

 

So my battery is shot? It wasn't fully discharged, just didn't have enough to start. I'll try to get it replaced under warranty if that's the case.

How old is this battery?

Car is less than a year old.

What he said. You get into colder months - say, January in Indiana - it's entirely possible that three DAYS is too long.

Seriously, there are a huge number of variables involved. Age of the battery, many short trips versus lots of long ones, what's still going for parasitic power (clock, security system, stuff like that), and outside temperature. Just because a car is in a garage doesn't mean that it didn't get below freezing in that garage.

3 days? That's pretty sad. My last car, a BMW was always fine after 3 weeks. Would a better battery really help?

 

I've left cars for a few months and was able to start it up on the first turn. Left my boat outside in a northern winter one year for about four months. It had two batteries, one was dead but the other had sufficient power to start up the engine.


Not sure what all of this parasitic draw people are talking about here, the things that draw power when turned off draw very, very little power.

 

Not sure what all of this parasitic draw people are talking about here, the things that draw power when turned off draw very, very little power.

Subaru specs the "dark current" (i.e. parasitic draw when parked) at 70 milliamps or less, which (if you do the math) a healthy, fully-charged OE battery should be able to supply for more than three weeks.

 

I left my car Lexus RX for 6 months in the garage and it started just fine when I returned. I just made sure that all lights were off.


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Yes, a better battery with higher capacity is never a negative thing, as many here will attest. The factory battery is, with kind words, a marginal thing for long term happiness or short term use. It's just not the best battery out there and no one is saying it is. At most, people here who still run then say, "Mine is working fine far so far."

There isn't much you can do to minimize the dark draw but you can minimize the active draw by not keeping the rear hatch up and switching to LEDs for your internal lights. I think, iirc, someone here did all LEDs (like I did) and measured (I didn't do that) the draw and it was very small.

Bottom line for right now is the factory battery is poo and if the dealer replaces it (will be surprised) all they will do is give you another factory battery.

 

I did leave it for 2 weeks, during warmer months, and had no issues. As the battery's age is increasing, that successful probability is decreasing.

 

So after reading some threads on replacements I think the Optima Red Top seems one that would fit and people are high on. Any other ones I should look at?

 

The yellow top is a dual purpose if you want to spend a little more. This one is popular https://amazon.com/dp/B000AMDDBQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=29I5E5Q921B3A&coliid=I39QFQ987MA3AI&psc=1 or a 34/78 is cheaper sometimes. Group 34 will fit, stock is 25 but 34 has more capacity.

 

Deka/Penn State makes some AGM batteries.

 

Not acceptable at all, in my opinion.

This is, at least in part, because of the relatively small batteries used in the Outback and Legacy models. I'm also wondering if the keyless-touch entry feature is a contributing factor.

You can certainly complain to Subaru (I would) but I upgraded to a larger battery in my two-week old Outback, just as an ounce of prevention. It shouldn't be necessary and is an added expense, but I feel the money well spent to (hopefully) prevent being stranded somewhere.

 

My BMW had touchless entry and that car never had a problem sitting for 3 weeks. What battery did you replace it with?

 

Optima Red or Yellow, Group 25 or 34 is popular. Other are too.

 

Another item that is nice to have is a Battery Tender. If I have been driving my vehicles on many short trips during the winter, I'll leave this battery tender connected for a few hours until it goes into maintenance charge. It will work with either lead acid or AGM batteries.

https://www.amazon.com/Deltran-Batt...U/ref=sr_1_6?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1482842725&sr=1-6&keywords=battery+tender

Worth the $50 to me.

 

FWIW, My 2015 Outback 3.6r is parked outside in Boulder, CO. Recently it sat for 3 weeks and it just barely started on a 10 degree F morning. Seems OK now, but as many have noted, I expect the OEM battery's life to be short. My 2004 Forester XT OEM battery lasted 7 years so I'm a bit bummed. At least a Yellow-top Optima will look nice in the engine compartment.

 

I have had chronic battery problems in the past with other cars. I always keep jumper cables in the car. I never park anywhere I can't get someone to give me a jump.

In my own driveway, I have all the chargers, heaters, and spare batteries to get myself going in a few minutes.

 

Every summer I go to Istanbul for a month and leave the car in the garage or at the airport...... I've never had any problems. Once, I left the vehicle at O'Hare for 2 weeks in January and had no troubles. That was w/ a 14' Corolla S, '02 Honda Civic, and 16' Jeep Cherokee Latitude though.

The battery in the Subaru in my first month and a half of ownership seems to be second rate. In cold weather the vehicle takes a bit longer to start............................ I'd say on par w/ my Honda Civic in cold weather (you know when it was over a decade old w/ a 5 year old battery --> still started every time just took a bit).

Definitely looking to shop around when the time comes to replace the battery.

So, reasonable in most vehicles but maybe not a Subaru in sustained cold weather?

 

Yes

 

I now have good evidence that leaving the passenger side map light on for 36 hours kills the battery.

Time to go put 30 minutes on the car to get the battery charged up again. I'm undecided if I want to put my battery tender on it overnight. I have a long drive tomorrow where the car will fully charge.

 

car ran really bad after a dead batter and a jump

So check this out, I had my car detailed today. Looked great, but he said when he went to start it after he was done he had to jump the battery. Which he and I both thought was very odd. Also after the jump it ran TERRIBLE. Like i seriously thought they messed up my car somehow. He was very concerned. i was also very concerned. After talking with the detailer again i went back out and started my car and drove it again and it ran just fine. weird right? Has anyone else had this problem? I was so upset i thought i was going to have to have my car TOWED to the dealer 40 miles away and have my year old car fixed :/

 

SmartKey system on a Prius will suck the battery flat in 3-5 weeks. Toyota goes to effort to mention this in the owner's manual and provides a switch on dash under steering column to turn it off. Can't help think Subaru's keyless entry would use any less power, plus the addition of StarLink via cellular will drain even more. Outback battery is bigger than Prius 12V so I'm guessing it all comes out the same in the wash.

 

Chapter 2 of the owner's manual, page 2-18 for 2016 is where instructions start on how to turn off the keyless entry when vehicle is to be parked for extended periods.

Plus Chapter 2 reminded me of how to use the mechanical key buried in the key fob. So you can disable the keyless entry and still lock the doors.

 

Ok, thanks, I'll give that a try. Do you think it'll save a lot of drain?

 

I left my car parked indoors for 3 weeks without driving and it didn't have enough juice for it to start. I had previously left it for 2 weeks at a time and it started.

Try removing the negative battery cable from the terminal and leave it off. Alternately, use a trickle charger if possible.